THE TEN RICHEST MAYORS “WEIGH” 30 MILLION EUROS

As part of the PEP project supported by the Washington-based Foundation NED, SCOOP continues to systematically monitor, investigate and analyze the properties of current mayors of local governments in the Republic of North Macedonia. Where did they gain the property from? Do they have a basis for it? How will the structure of their property change and what lies behind those changes?

Authors:
Angela Rajchevska and Bjanka Stankovic

The ten richest mayors in
the Republic of North Macedonia weigh about 30 million Euros. One of them is
from VMRO-DPMNE, first on the list,
while six gravitate or are members of the SDSM.
Of the three mayors of the Alliance for
Albanians party, all three are on the list of the top 10 richest mayors.

First on the list is the mayor
of Kavadarci Mitko Jancev, followed
by Nikolco Iliev – mayor of Kocani, Isen Shabani of Vrapciste, Albon Xhemaili of Bogovinje, Petre Shilegov of the City of Skopje, Arben Taravari of Gostivar, Konstantin Georgieski of Ohrid, Gerasim
Konzulov of Radovish, Nikola Andonov of Novo Selo and Aleksandar Naumoski of Gjorce Petrov.

BISNESSMEN,
LAWYERS AND DOCTORS – RICH MUNICIPAL FATHERS

According to the State
Commission for Prevention of Corruption and Crime, the mayors’ ownership
structure is similar to that of senior officials. Cars, tractors, motorcycles,
gold jewelry, watches, art paintings, real estate and non-precise property, as
well as bank accounts, stakes and loans have been reported.

The most valuable
property of the current mayors has been reported by Mitko Jancev. The thirty-eight-year-old mayor of Kavadarci owns
property worth nearly 11 million Euros. The total real estate in Kavadarci,
Vatasa, Skopje and Ohrid owned by Jancev includes 240,770 m2 and is
worth 1,865,124 Euros. His fleet
consists of a BMW X Series, two Aprilia motorcycles and five tractors, and his
wife owns a 2013 Land Rover Evoque.

In 2017 SCOOP wrote
about the mayors’ properties. First on the list was the then mayor of Kocani,
Ratko Dimitrovski from VMRO-DPMNE with a property of 3,511,283 Euros. Nikolco Ilijev
now runs the municipality as a party candidate nominated by the SDSM-led
coalition. He currently ranks second with a property of 7,475,131 Euros. Most of the property consists of foreign currency
deposits owned by Ilijev, his wife and children. They own a holiday home in
Greece, but also real estate in Kocani, Polaki and Jastrebnik.

The former director of
the State Market Inspectorate, Isen
Shabani, who was elected mayor of Vrapciste in 2017, weighs 3,299,988 denars. Shabani reported to
the SCPC a common real estate property in Gradec, Tetovo and Gostivar, which is
the most numerous of the items on his declaration of assets. He owns two
Mercedes and Audi cars, as well as two foreign exchange savings books with
20,000 Swiss francs or 50,000 Euros.

Fourth on the list with
property worth 1,367,683 Euros is
the physician Albon Xhemaili who
runs the municipality of Bogovinje. His property does not have many items
unlike the previous mayors, but still reaches a million. Characteristic of
Xhemaili is that he reported his parents’ property in Bogovinje and Tirana –
Albania, as well as his wife’s PHI Pharmacy “Elarda”. On the other hand, he
reported only two motor vehicles on his behalf.

Petre
Shilegov, former lawyer and now mayor of the capital, owns
property worth 1,332,115 Euros. The
Shilegov family own gold jewelry and watches worth around 130,000 Euros, as
well as paintings of close to 50,000 Euros. In addition to real estate in
Skopje that has four apartments and one house, they also own a house in Mavrovo
of 55,000 Euros. Shilegov also receives a monthly fee of around 800 Euros for
consulting services.

Former Minister of
Health, incumbent mayor of Gostivar Arben
Taravari owns property worth 1,007,176
Euros. He drives a Volvo XC worth nearly 50,000 Euros and has a denar
deposit of nearly 11,000 Euros. His wife also has a deposit of 31,000 Euros and
drives a Mercedes A class worth 1,800 Euros, but also owns an apartment in
Skopje, as well as gold jewelry worth close to 22,000 Euros. Together they own
paintings by Macedonian authors worth nearly 4,000 Euros. The rest of the
property is owned by his parents and consists of two houses, a construction
land, three business premises and a courtyard.

Internal medicine specialist and current mayor
of Ohrid, Konstantin Georgievski,
who took office in May 2019, reported a property worth 1,001,463 Euros. Georgievski drives Opel Signum, owns part of a
house, a pasture and business premises in Ohrid. He holds deposits worth around
17,000 Euros, a credit card of 800 Euros and has debts of a total of 67
thousand Euros.

Gerasim Konzulov, a Macedonian politician
from SDSM, the current mayor of Radovis, owns property of 949,841 Euros. His family owns three companies, Gold Transportation
Dooel, Galactic Dooel and Consul Trans Dooel. In addition to the real estate
worth 598,622, in his declaration of assets there is an Opel Antara and BMW X5
as well as company property covering 5 trucks, dumpers and a car.

The Mayor of Novo Selo, Nikola Andonov, owns property worth 821,673 Euros. Andonov has not listed the value for 16 of 35 items
in his declaration of assets. The value of the real estate of 62.123 m2
in Skopje, Novo Selo and Bosilovo is under question. Only the value of the
house and agricultural land in Kolezino, worth 86 thousand Euros, is listed.
The remaining 735,000 Euros come from his savings books, dividends and shares
as well as from the said “Business” worth 605 thousand Euros.

The tenth richest mayor is Aleksandar Naumoski, the first man of the municipality of Gjorce
Petrov. Naumoski owns property worth 726,341
Euros. He owns a house in Kicevo and two motorcycles, Motorcycle Aprilia
and BMW X5 and a loan of 10,000 Euros. His wife has a deposit of 10,000 Euros and
a loan of 11,000 Euros. Together they own art and collectibles worth 3,000
Euros. The other real estate listed on Naumoski’s declaration of assets belongs
to his parents and consists of: a house, two flats, a land, a forest and an agricultural
land. They also own a Renault Megan car worth around 2,000 Euros.

FOUR
MAYORS RICHER AFTER THE LOCAL ELECTIONS

Within four of the
current mayors serving a second term an increase in the value of their property
has been noticed, compared to data
released by SCOOP in 2017, when the last local elections were held.